“The driver is going to have to inconvenience someone,” said the police worker who reviewed the poor driving featured in our Near Miss of the Day series – that “someone” was of course a cyclist, and we are glad it was just an “inconvenience” he suffered.
Here is the reply that road.cc reader Richard got from Gloucestershire Constabulary when he sent the footage to them.
Thought your readers may be interested in my latest submission to Gloucestershire Constabulary for your NMOTD. I have attached a copy of the video I sent in and below is the reply I received.
“I’m not going to prosecute the driver.
“Initially he has left plenty of room. The opposite carriageway is clear. The van then appears from the mini roundabout and the car is already quite far passed you. At this point the driver is going to have to inconvenience someone because of the situation has developed in a way the driver didn’t foresee.
“Because of this it wouldn’t meet the threshold for careless driving as the driver hasn’t been careless they have been the victim of unforeseen circumstances.”
An interesting take on a close pass that put the cyclist in danger, don’t you think?
> Near Miss of the Day turns 100 - Why do we do the feature and what have we learnt from it?
Over the years road.cc has reported on literally hundreds of close passes and near misses involving badly driven vehicles from every corner of the country – so many, in fact, that we’ve decided to turn the phenomenon into a regular feature on the site. One day hopefully we will run out of close passes and near misses to report on, but until that happy day arrives, Near Miss of the Day will keep rolling on.
If you’ve caught on camera a close encounter of the uncomfortable kind with another road user that you’d like to share with the wider cycling community please send it to us at info [at] road.cc or send us a message via the road.cc Facebook page.
If the video is on YouTube, please send us a link, if not we can add any footage you supply to our YouTube channel as an unlisted video (so it won't show up on searches).
Please also let us know whether you contacted the police and if so what their reaction was, as well as the reaction of the vehicle operator if it was a bus, lorry or van with company markings etc.
> What to do if you capture a near miss or close pass (or worse) on camera while cycling
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115 comments
The driver had to inconvenience somebody, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be themselves.
Or rather, the driver didn't have to inconvenience anyone if only a little patient had been exercised and the rules of the road obeyed. Oh wait...
Do I have to take one everywhere ? Is it like 'dogs must be carried...' ?
I wish you'd have more patients with other people's typhoos, you big teas.
If the Police can write to the submitter of the complaint to state "No further action", then surely they could also write to the registered keeper of the vehicle involved stating the same but maybe including a few words of advice. Such as the inadvisability of overtaking at junctions or approach to roundabouts.
Anyone can make a mistake and very few drivers go out with the intent of hurting anyone, but being alerted to those errors of judgement, even without sanction, cannot be a bad thing.
No, that might encourage more people to submit footage, as word gets around that action will be taken
It's much better this way.....
or even reminding them not to overtake other road users where there is traffic calming, you know as per the highway code.
Fuck off troll.
Oh now you are saying video evidence is king.... but when it comes to your hero Nick Freeman you seem to say that there are other circumstances at play. Go back under your bridge....
Do you even read the drivel you post? An overtake is complete when the driver has safely returned to their own lane. Here is the driver crossing the speed bump with at least 3/4 of their vehicle in the oncoming traffic lane. There is nothing equivocal or "difficult to tell" about that.
Oh well done indeed, great work. Have a sticker.
I beg your pardon? Justify that remark or withdraw it.
Ah - I see the problem now - a spatio-temporal anomoly was causing the rear of the car to travel faster than the front, so the driver couldn't safely slow without risking both themselves and the cyclist collapsing into a localised black hole.
An excellent reconstruction - but in your photoshopping you appear to have cropped out the front of the bike (understandable oversight because who'd expect cyclists to be making a practical journey). I've restored it:
I didn't realise it was a short wheelbase - no wonder they had to slam the brakes on for the speed cushion, or they would have risked tipping it.
Btw, not at all difficult to see who was in the wrong, without the need for photoshop (but I've annotated it just so it is clear for you) -
We just need to bear in mind that facts don't belong anywhere in Nigels interpretations. He likes to lie and make sh!t up with alarming regularity. Yet he thinks he has the moral high ground
pretty sure the video shows a 5 door golf, not a 3 door.
He shouldn't be overtraking in the first place. Rule 153 is very clear. "On some roads there are features such as road humps, chicanes and narrowings which are intended to slow you down. When you approach these features reduce your speed. Allow cyclists and motorcyclists room to pass through them. Maintain a reduced speed along the whole of the stretch of road within the calming measures. Give way to oncoming road users if directed to do so by signs. You should not overtake other moving road users while in these areas."
he certainly hadn't completed it before slowing down for the speed hump, which leads the question why start an overtake when you know you will slow to the speed of the other road user before completing it?
The idea that it would be completely unforeseen for another vehilce to come aroud the bend on their side of the road is incredible to me. Someone pulling oout of their driveway without looking left as well as right might be unforeseen, someone coming the other way on a public road is hardly a surprise.
Did you go downstairs from your bedroom and check what your mum said about this overtake? Or did you just whatsapp her?
When was the last time she let you take your bike out on the road?
Another example of your famed politeness and courtesy.
How very 1980s of you to assume I have a wife as opposed to a husband. How about you throw in some casual racism too?
And just for reference maybe go back and look at when you insulted him before with your assumptions......
Oh, he's covered that base a number of times in the past.
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Oh really? He could have anticipated his need to slow on the speed bump. Just bad driving.
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In what way is the lens 'narrow'?
One look at the still image tells me that the lens is a fairly wide angle lens, as fitted to pretty much all action/dash cameras. These lenses will give an exaggerated impression compared to the human eye, but in the opposite way to your suggestion.
Perhaps the OP could let us know what camera was used, so we can know for certain what the focal length and angle of view of the lens is.
It's an apeman A80. I believe the FOV is 170 degrees.
I was experimenting with low res high frame rate at the time to see if it helped pick up reg numbers in poor light which I find a problem at this time of year. This sample is reduced to 30fps to cut down file size which hopefully explains the low quality.
Thanks Bungle. Since a 24mm lens on a 35mm camera, with a diagonal field of view of approx. 84deg. is generally considered 'wide angle' I'd say that a camera with 170 deg. field of view is extra, if not ultra wide angle.
So not so narrow.
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